This ruthless pursuit of knowledge and glory proves hazardous as his attempt at being “God-like” and giving“life to an animal as complete and wonderful as a man” (shelley,pg.53) backfires. This is so as he is not only aware of the horror of his activities but that his “marvelous accomplishment” is only but a nuisance to society and would be frowned upon by fellow philosophers and humans. Robert Walton, like Victor also has a burning desire to “satiate his ardent curiosity” (3) and as such commits wholeheartedly to his studies from an early age, reading “nothing but Uncle Thomas’ books of voyages”(pg.8) in attempt tooutdo previous human explorations by endeavouring to discover a path to the north pole. Also, Walton’s pursuit of glory and honor eventually results in him finding himself in a fickle position as his ship becomes perilously trapped between pieces of ice. However, whereas Victor’s hatred for the monster and relentless will to kill it drives him to his death, Walton ultimately pulls back from his treacherous mission having learned from Victor’s example, how destructive the thirst for knowledge can be.
PART A: Explain Mill’s challenge to the teleological argument. (25marks) The teleological argument claims that God designed the world with a purpose. God is often described to be omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent. Mill criticises the idea of the teleological argument, he doesn’t believe that the world is designed by a God because within nature there are cruelty and crimes that are unpunished. Mill argues that if God designed the universe he wouldn’t have created something containing any evil at all it wouldn’t fit in with his description.
Reasoning that amounts to nothing more than a "tortuous chain of hypothetical transmittals" is insufficient to infer access. . .
c. No effect on the current ratio. d. Not sufficient information to determine effect on the current
Frankenstein was being written in a time when philosophers and writers such as Rousseau and John Locke where developing their ideas on the human condition. Rousseau’s Theory of Natural Human, which acknowledged that morality was not a societal construct but rather “natural” and “innate”, is questioned throughout the novel. Shelley examines the effect of society and knowledge on the innate goodness of the Creature, suggesting that he has become the monster that Victor sees him as because of the unwillingness of his creator to accept him and nurture him. The idea that humans’ innate goodness is tainted and polluted by society is present when the Creature expresses that his “sorrow only increased with knowledge” and this “increase of knowledge only discovered to [him] more clearly what wretched outcast [he] was”. The relationship between Frankenstein and the Creature is also paralleled with that of Lucifer and God and this is shown when the Creature, a symbol of humankind, acknowledges that “I am thy creature; I ought to be thy Adam; but I am rather the fallen angel, whom thou drivest from joy for no misdeed”, suggesting that had it been nurtured/educated, it would have become an
Innocence and purity are tarnished when pride is introduced into oneʼs mind. Benjamin Disraeli supports this by stating “pride ruined the angels.” When people have pride they will go to extreme measures to remove the flaws that surround them; this leads to them losing the morality and naivete that once established their being. The novel Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, exemplifies the disintegration of integrity through her protagonist: Victor Frankenstein. At first, Victor was a pure and intelligent human who once held a great passion for science and wanted to pursue his dreams of creating life; however, once that goal was achieved, Victor isolated himself from his creation due to all its imperfections and the overwhelming feelings from failing himself thus diminishing his pride.
These men being in power for so long could hardly bare the thought of change “Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change” (Shelley). They were being threatened with losing their power over people. These puritan ministers decided they needed to do something so they could remain in power “The ministers were believed to have encouraged the strange behavior so that they could increase their own influence over the people by showing that they were able to rid the afflicted from evil spirits” (The Salem Witch Trials-Home). This path they chose made monsters out of innocent people. Now for who was the real monster’s behind this is hard to tell.
This may be deliberate to highlight Walton and Frankenstein character parallel and both their thirsts for knowledge. Shelley warns the reader that by having such adamant ambitions, although you may achieve them, the aftermath may not always be rewarding, such as for Frankenstein who was viewed as a mad man who isolated himself from society. Walton in the opening letters shows “one man’s life or death were but a small price to pay for the acquirement of knowledge.” This could potentially be intended foreshadow Walton ambition and how he doesn’t get to achieve it. Shelley highlights how both characters use
new Brave New World is a book that centres on the idea that if we allow science to take control of too much of our lives, then science will control us. It is not simply a warning of what could happen to society if things go wrong, it is a satirical look of the society that we live in as well as the society that Aldus Huxley, the author, lived in. From the incompatibility of happiness and truth, shown through the use of soma, to the attempt that the world state makes to control and muffle any attempt by a citizen to gain any sort of scientific truth, we see how serious the matter is when it comes to a society controlled by technology and/or science. It causes one to wonder if the theme of two of the most bloody and ruthless pieces of literature,
In his fervor, he failed to realize the outcome of his actions and did not immediately understand his own reaction to what he had done. This failure is due to the flaw in his character, his inability to cope with the hardships that plagued his life, a haunting that he himself had indirectly created. He did not have a strong will and was constantly affected by disease (“fever”). Victor failed because he could not restrain himself, he could not stand the sight of anything even slightly repulsive and he was